YMMV / Hellboy II: The Golden Army

• Awesome Music:
  • The score for The Golden Army is very good. Then again it is Danny Elfman, what did you expect?
  • "Mein Herz Brennt" by Rammstein, used in the trailers, is especially noteworthy. It fits extremely well with the setting and tone.
• Base-Breaking Character: Prince Nuada is, depending on who you ask, a cool Anti-Villain or an annoyance compared to the previous film's villains. People in favor of him tend to like his complexity and sympathetic motives centered on his genuine love of magical creatures and remorse for his actions, his lengthy and elaborate fight scenes, and his costuming and makeup, all of which were generally hailed as highlights of the film. Fans against Nuada tend to dislike the film's attempts to make him sympathetic, feeling they revolve around a Space Whale Aesop, feel that the Incest Subtext between himself and Nuala makes him too creepy to be likeable or sympathetic, and feel his edgy look and resemblance to Elric make him a derivative villain who isn't nearly as interesting and sympathetic as the film thinks he is. Notably, professional critics also criticized him due to feeling that he didn't come off as much of a threat when put onscreen opposite Ron Perlman.
• Broken Base: In Spain, veteran actor/comedian Santiago Segura voicing Johann Krauss (which was specially requested by Guillermo del Toro, a close friend of Segura) met a divided reaction. Some found it surprisingly well done for a non-specialist voice actor and very adequate for the character, while others saw it as a cheap attempt to get more appeal for the film in Spain and claimed that many other voice actors would have done the character better.
• Creepy Awesome: Nuada has a dark design, villainous intent, is a skilled warrior, and he has a hatred for humans that is unparalleled. Because of this and certain other reasons, he has a solid fanbase.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Prince Nuada, naturally enough for an expy of Elric. It helps that he does have something of a point, the magical beings are being forced out.
• Even Better Sequel: Despite diverging even more from the source material, The Golden Army is liked just as much as, if not more so, than the first film.
• Evil Is Cool: Nuada's status as a complex Anti-Villain who performs acrobatics, kicks ass, and has awesome costumes has led him to garnering a very solid fanbase.
• Genius Bonus:
  • The creature in the Troll Market who helps Nuala has a cityscape of towers on his head, which looks cool, but it's apparently inspired by the mural crowns found in the heraldry of classical antiquity, worn by the guardian spirits of cities.
  • The tooth fairies' classification in Abe's ancient tome is Carcharodon carcharias, which in real life is the binomial classification of the Great white shark.
  • The large fertility goddess statue for sale at the auction is based heavily on the Venus of Willendorf, with one major piece of artistic license: the real statue is smaller than the average person's hand.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Hiroshi Yanaka, the Japanese dub actor for Nuada, provided the dub voice for elven Lord Celeborn in the The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
  • Guillermo del Toro left clues in plain sight about his desire to make The Shape of Water way back here by having Abe, a fish man played by Doug Jones, being in love and singing "Can't Smile Without You" after confessing his feelings, with a Reaction Shot of Liz hearing the music from Hellboy's quarters, where a TV just so happens to be playing Creature from the Black Lagoon...
• Ho Yay: It says something about the writers (or maybe the actors) that one of the most romantic scenes in the either of the films is two dudes getting drunk and singing "Can't Smile Without You" to each other.
• Jerkass Woobie: Nuada. Not only was he exiled, but he very much happens to have a point about the incoming extinction of his kind. Not only that, but he proceeds to, despite not wishing to, kill his father. In the end, Nuada has little but good intentions, but no good way to achieve his goals.
• Magnificent Bastard: Prince Nuada Silverlance, after centuries of watching his people die out due to humanity's greed, returns in a last attempt to wipe out mankind and save his people. Attempting to find three pieces of a crown to control the mechanical Golden Army, Nuada first eliminates an entire auction and acquires a piece. Remorsefully killing his father and acquiring the second piece after being refused his family's support, Nuada pursues his sister Nuala to get the final piece. Nuada ambushes her and the heroes Hellboy and Abe Sapien, sending in his minion Wink and summoning a Forest God when things go awry, making Hellboy question his faith in humanity. Nuada continues to track the final crown piece to BRPD headquarters, where he pointedly spares the guard dogs before attacking and deducing the secrets of the map to the Golden Army. Nuada then takes Nuala hostage, taking advantage of Abe's love for her to get the final crown piece and activate the Golden Army. Even when defeated, Nuada gives a genuine warning to Hellboy that he will have to choose between magical beings and humans, proving himself loyal to his cause and his people to the end.
• Moral Event Horizon: Prince Nuada starts off by unleashing a swarm of ravenous tooth fairies in a room full of people, the tooth fairies ate every last bit of everyone in that room till there was nothing left of them. There is absolutely no purpose to this either, as he already has what he came for. He does it just because they're humans.
• Narm: Nuada stating he always loved his father, right after killing him and in a strangely deadpan delivery.
• Narm Charm: When Hellboy's fighting the forest god, he also has to protect a baby in a carriage. It's completely ridiculous and contrived, and yet very endearing and one of the best scenes in the movie. Also, only an actor as talented as Ron Perlman could make this line sound like a convincingly badass death threat.
  Hellboy: You woke the baby!
• One-Scene Wonder: The Angel of Death is only on screen for a couple of minutes, but is one of the most memorable things of the film. Not only does its distinctive look lead it to be heavily featured in promotional materials, but it very potently reminds everyone, in- and out-of-universe, just what Hellboy is.
• Rooting for the Empire: Prince Nuada's good looks, sympathetic motives and general coolness made a few people actually want him to succeed.
• Strangled by the Red String: Abe and Nuala. They've known each other for a few days, but act as though they're deeply in love, mostly Abe. The film attempts to justify it by having the two share a Psychic Link briefly, and playing up their inability to fit in, but that doesn't change the fact that the two have barely interacted by this point. This causes Abe to grab hold of the Idiot Ball and set the film's climax into motion by giving Nuada exactly what he needs to activate the titular Golden Army after he kidnaps Nuala, claiming that Hellboy would've done the same thing for Liz, which ignores the fact that Hellboy and Liz have known each other, and have been dating, for years.
• Tear Jerker: Nuala's sacrifice, particularly because it makes Abe of all people shed a tear.
• Ugly Cute:
  • "I'm not a baby, I'm a tumour."
  • Nuada, if you're not tired of yet another Well-Intentioned Extremist ranting against the black and white evil that is humanity.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: As usual, del Toro's limited reliance to CGI delivers a film with beautifully designed and believable fantasy creatures, the Troll Market scene especially being a Scenery Porn of gorgeous Practical Effects and stunning character designs. The CGI for the Elemental and the Golden Army also aged rather nicely.

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